Small Business Act

Agriculture's Disadvantaged Business Advocate Not Reporting to Proper Management Level Gao ID: GGD-87-45 April 6, 1987

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) to determine its compliance with the Small Business Act.

GAO found that, although the act required the OSDBU Director to report directly to the Secretary of Agriculture or his deputy, the Director was reporting to the Assistant Secretary for Administration, in violation of the act. Although USDA deemed the Assistant Secretary for Administration to be the Deputy Secretary, this did not fulfill the requirements of the act, since USDA had no statutory authority to deem one of its officials to be another official.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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